Fire & Ice - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

When my alarm went off this morning I was mostly awake already. The nerves were starting to sink in and I knew I needed to try and push them away. Once my blades hit the ice I would be right as rain. But for now my anxiety was at an all-time high as I finally pushed my blankets off my body and got up. I left my alarm on while I got dressed and listened to a few songs on the radio.
After I was dressed I made my way to the bathroom and took care of my morning routine. Once I was done in the bathroom I walked into the kitchen and quietly made my way through the cabinets to see what Cassie's parents had brought when they dropped her off yesterday. I was able to find some granola bars so I just took the box with me. When I was ready to go I grabbed a post-it note and some cash to leave Cassie a note. I stole your granola bars; breakfast is on me. I'll be back from practice the latest around 1pm, we can go food shopping then. ~McKenna.
I unwrapped one of the granola bars and grabbed my bag and sticks before walking out of the door. I made it down the hall and saw Rebecca was just leaving her dorm as well.
"You alive?" I asked and she gave me a look.
"I swear I didn't drink that much last night; this is going to be a long morning." Rebecca said and as I laughed and we made our way to the rink.
Just as we got outside I saw Megan standing in front of a bus. When she saw us she waved us over and we hopped on the bus. She told us that they take it over to the rink and will come pick us up before team practices and games so we don't have to walk. I was happy I got to sit down and eat. The ride to the rink was short, barely 5 minutes before we were walking off the bus. The rink was huge from the outside.
Rebecca and I followed behind the team to take everything in. I couldn't wait to play here. The upperclassmen showed us to the locker room and we walked in and found our lockers. Before we even got to start putting our stuff away the team captains pulled us out of the locker room to a meeting room down the hall. Sitting on tables were large duffle bags.
"Find your name and grab your bag. Everything inside is yours." Megan said and we all started to move around the room. It took me a few minutes but I found the bag with my name stitched into it and my number 23 sitting right underneath it. When I came here I didn't know if I would get my old number that I had in high school and travel.
A smile spread across my lips when I saw 23 stitched into the bag under my last name. Just like the other girls I started to unload the bag and was shocked to find all the swag. Wisconsin hockey sweatshirts, tee shirts, track suit, backpack and a pair of new Nikes. I didn't have to long to look over everything as we needed to get dressed for practice.
I made my way into the locker room and found my locker again and started to change. Today was going to be a full practice so I dressed in all of my pads. When I was done I looked around the room and saw most of the girls had nice new pads. Mine are pretty worn and I'm going to need new ones soon with all the games we have in a season.
"Before I forget, new girls, see the Sam after practice and he will get you sized up for all the team issued equipment and jerseys." Toni said as she grabbed her sticks and walked out towards the ice.
I grabbed my own and followed after her. The tunnel that led to the ice wasn't too long and it gave way to the bright ice. It took me for a second to adjust to the lighting. I brought my sticks over to the equipment manager Sam and he placed them along the back wall of the bench. Once he took them I pulled the cage of my helmet down and stepped onto the ice. A few of the other girls were already out here started to warm up and I took a few laps around the ice. The quality of the ice was far better than anything I played on back in Boston. I didn't even want to start practice, I just wanted to skate around on the ice.
But much to my dismay, practice would wait for no one. Coach Decker came out a few minutes later and I started to stretch out with the team. At exactly 9:30 Coach blew his whistle and skated out to center ice.
"Let's go ladies, you're on my time now." Coach yelled. We all skated to him and he started to bark out instructions of team stretches lead by our captains. The stretching was more like team building as we all worked with each other to get ready for practice.
"Alright ladies today we aren't going to go crazy. We are going to do some shooting drills, then we are going go to do everyone's favorite thing, conditioning!" Coach said and most of the team started to groan.
"It's the first practice of the season guys, conditioning is necessary. After conditioning if you guys still have something left in the tank we will do a mini game. Toni, Megan line them up!" Coach said and blew his whistle again.
Coach Jackie dropped a bucket of pucks onto the ice as we all got into position. It didn't take long for the captains to explain the drill and then we were off. We split the team in two to use both sides of the ice. As everyone was egger to get to shoot, I stayed back because I wanted to see how everyone else did and try and pick up on any tells from the goalie. As more girls went I started to pick up on how most girls shot on the glove side. All of the shots were blocked. Nicole is a good goalie on her glove side. Rebecca was in front of me and I think she picked up on the same thing because she shot on the blocker side. Nicole was too good though and was able to blocked the shot.
My turn. I looked at Toni and started to skate. She passed me the puck and I picked up speed. Nicole came out of her crease a bit but backed into it when she saw my speed. Before I could get too close I picked my shot and hit the puck. Out of all the shots the other girls have taken so far none of them went 5 hole. So that's where I aimed for. Nicole tried to drop down to block the shot but was too late. I heard the whack of the puck hitting the back of the net and I circled around to take Toni's place as the passer.
"Nice shot Bertinelli!" Coach Decker said and blew his whistle again. I couldn't help the smirk under my helmet as we started up the drill again.
Out of all my shots I only missed once. Nicole came out of the crease and poke checked me and was able to steal the puck away when I tried to pull it back. As for the rest of the girls they started to figure out Nicole's weaknesses and a few of them were able to get some shots into the back of the net.
When we all finished the drill, Coach Decker and Jackie started us up on conditioning. We did the beep test on skates. It was honestly the worse thing I have ever done at practice. By the time it was over we all were flat on the ice trying to get our breaths. Our coaches let us have a few minutes too cool off and recover before we launched into our mini game. The team was split in half again and we played four on four.
The game was fun. Not so much of us actually trying to score but more of figuring out everyone's tells. One thing I figured out quickly while we were playing in our mini game was that playing with women is a more thought out game. Playing with guys it was more like bring the puck into the zone and go from there. Here it seems like everyone has a plan A of what they want to do with the puck in the zone and if that plan doesn't work they have the rest of the alphabet to go through. There really isn't much winging it in this game.
Another thing I found out pretty quickly is that I have really good hockey chemistry with Rebecca. She was always right where I needed her to be and same the other way around. When Coach Jackie put us on a line together towards the middle of the game we were a scoring machine. The defense wasn't trying super hard but our line out scored all the others.
Practice came to an end after the game and we all retreated back into the locker room. Before leaving the ice I went over to Coach Decker to ask about more ice time and he said that the rink is always looking for employees during the school year. He is one of the only ones who knew of my financial situation and told me that I could use the rink to give private lesions for hockey and skating. I thanked him for the advice and joined the team in the locker room for a shower. My body aches and I can't wait to get back to my dorm to relax.
When I was done in the shower I found out from my teammates that the bus will pick us up and drop us off before and after all team practices and games. That makes me happy to hear I won't have to walk to and from the rink when I'm sore. While the last few girls were getting dressed I went to the front desk to ask about an open position to work at the rink. The front desk manager just asked me to fill out the paper work and give it in the next time I'm at the rink and they will work stuff out with my hockey schedule.
With a job lined up I returned to the locker room to finish putting away my gear I won't be taking with back to my door with me and locked it all up. By now the rest of the team was done and we all made our way to the bus. The ride back to our dorms were quiet as I munched another granola bar. Rebecca and I got ourselves off the bus first and I handed her a granola bar when she said she was hungry.
With our new duffle bag full of stuff and my sticks I brought home to re-wrap, we trudged our way up to our respective dorms. As we got there, I gave Rebecca my number so we could plan out meeting up for the bus and stuff.
I pushed my way into my dorm room and dropped my duffle and sticks by the door to almost slump my way to the couch. Just as I laid down I heard a noise and opened my eyes again to find Cassie sitting in the arm chair in front of the window.
"Rough practice I see?" Cassie said with a chuckle.
"One word, conditioning." I answered and closed my eyes.
"Right, Chad hates those days too." Cassie said and paused before continuing. "Did you still want to hit the grocery store today? We can always table it if you need the day to recover."
"We can still go; I just need a little power nap and I'll be as good as new." I said already feeling the pull of sleep call me. If Cassie answered me I didn't know because I crashed hard into sleep.
When I woke up I didn't want to move off the couch. My body ached and I didn't look forward to getting up and doing anything else today. I rubbed my face and opened my eyes. The soft glow of the TV provided some light to the living room and I found Cassie sitting in the arm chair, text book on her lap, highlighter tucked behind her ear, twirling a pen in between her fingers. Just as I was about to sit up I heard my phone vibrating on the coffee table in front of me. I reach out for it and picked it up to find my mom calling.
"Oh good, you are alive." Mom said as I answered.
"I was sleeping, practice was a lot this morning after not skating for a few weeks." I said and pulled the phone away from my ear to look at the time. It was already after 4 in the afternoon and I knew I slept way to long.
"How was the first official practice. Coach already working you guys hard?" Mom asked.
"Conditioning and a mini game. Oh, you should see all the swag I got today; I'll send you a picture when I eventually get up." I said.
"I look forward to seeing it. I just wanted to give you a call while I'm stopped for an early dinner so I can push through the last bit of the drive." My mom said and that's when I heard the tell-tale signs of a rest stop in the background.
"Okay, let me know when you get home. I'm going to get up now and go and get some food for the apartment. I love you mom." I said and tried to rub the sleep from my eyes.
"I love you too my child. I will let you know when I get back home. Make good choices!" Mom yelled as I hung up the phone.
I stretched out to put my phone back on the coffee table and slowly sat up. As I got up I noticed that there is a blanket draped over me that definitely wasn't here when I laid down earlier.
"It was getting cold in here as the sun moved away from the window, so I threw a blanket over you." Cassie said and flashed me a smile.
"Thank you, so do you still want to go get some food?" I asked and tried to smooth my hair down.
"Sure, just give me a few minutes to get ready and we can go." Cassie said and put her book down.
Cassie got up from the chair and walked into her room while I carefully folded the blanket and placed it over the armrest. Slowly I got up from the couch and walked over to the door to get the duffle bag I dropped when I walked inside. I picked it up with my sticks I need to retape and brought them to my room. It took me a second to think of what to wear outside but I decided on wearing a new sweatshirt. I pulled it from the duffle bag and threw it over my head. The warmth was welcomed and I slipped on a pair of shoes and met Cassie in the living room.
She was waiting for me as I grabbed my jacket and wallet and room key. Cassie has her cane in hand. I almost forgot she used one.
"So how far is the store?" I asked held the door open for her to walk out first.
"It's not too far, about a ten minute drive." Cassie said and held up what looked like a car key.
"Oh thank god we aren't walking." I said and sighed in relief.
"Yea I have a car, well it's really Chads but he is letting me use it. If he needs it he can come and get it, but a few of the guys on a team have cars so he'll be fine." Cassie answered as I made sure the door closed behind us. I just nodded and followed next to Cassie as we left the dorm together.
Once we got outside I realized just how cold it is and pulled my jacket tighter around my body as I followed behind Cassie to her car. The car in question is a blue two door Jeep Wrangler. I hopped into the passenger seat as Cassie started the car up and we were on our way.
"Did you get to come and visit when you were making your decision on where you wanted to play?" Cassie asked.
"I got to see the team play when they played Boston College. That was more important than coming to see the campus. But this is the first time I'm seeing the area around campus." I answered kind of skirting around the question.
"Was there any other school you were looking at?" Cassie asked.
"It was between Boston College and Wisconsin. I almost ran out of time when I made the decision to come here. I knew my friend Travis was going to be playing for the men's team here. He made his decision quickly and I held out because of personal things going on at home. I didn't know if I would be able to come. But things changed and here I am." I answered taking in everything around me.
"This area of Wisconsin is nice until it snows. You ready for the subzero temperature and dumps of snow?" Cassie asked and chuckles.
"Probably not, I'm going to need some better snow boots." I said trying to memories the route to the grocery store.
"We could hit the mall sometime soon get you everything you'll need. Trust me you'll want it." Cassie said.
"Thanks, so where are we going?" I asked still taking everything in.
"We are going to Metcalfe's Market. It's one of the better grocery stores in the area. They should have about everything you can think of. But we could also hit up Costco if wanted some bulk items. It's not that much farther." Cassie said as we pulled up to a light. I could see the store in question and I started to think of everything I could want to have in the room.
Cassie found a parking spot without much of a problem and we got out and got a cart. I started to push it towards the store as Cassie put a bunch of reusable bags into the cart for our purchase.
"Do you want to push?" I asked and offered her the cart.
"I'm better with the cane, thanks though." Cassie said as we walked into the store. The warmth felt so nice on my face as we started to make our way through the store.
Today I can splurge on food. Still have some money in the savings and then moms gift and the job practically lined up at the rink so things will be okay. Cassie and I made our way through the fresh produce first and collected a lot of fruit and vegetables. Next up were the snack aisle before we made our way to the frozen section. We picked up a few of the healthier frozen premade dinners just to have in the back of the freezer for those nights neither of us want to cook or go out for something.
We chatted a bit more as she shopped. Mainly we talked about our classes and we touched a bit on my hockey schedule. It was to get a sense of when we would both be in the dorm. The farther we made our way through the store the more the cart filled. By the time we got to the meat and fish section I was contemplating going back to the front of the store to get another cart. I grabbed a lot of chicken and some fish while Cassie went for the ground meat and premade burgers.
Finally I think we got everything we could ever want to make and made our way to the checkout counter. Cassie and I worked as a team to get everything on the conveyer belt and bagged up. The total was pushing almost $400 after everything was totaled out. I gave the cashier my debit card before Cassie could get hers out. With the receipt and my card back in hand we made our way out of the store back to Cassie's car.
"When we get back to the dorm I will Venmo you half of the total." Cassie said as we started to load up the car.
"Sounds good, go start up the car I'll finish this." I said wanting to get out of the cold faster.
"You sure?" Cassie asked.
"Of course, go." I said and gave her a smile before returning to the task of getting the bags into the back of the Jeep.
Cassie got into the driver's seat and started up the car as I finished up. After I put the cart away I hopped into the passenger seat and Cassie started back towards the dorms. Less than ten minutes later we got back to the dorms and I asked Cassie to pull up and wait in the car. I ran off inside the dorm building and got a cart we some people used to move their stuff into the dorms. As I got back to the car Cassie hopped out and joined in helping putting the haul into the cart.
"This was a smart idea. I didn't want to have to make a million trips back and forth." Cassie said.
"Thanks, I have them every once and a while." I chuckled and finished putting the last of the bags into the cart. Cassie got back into the car to park while I went up to our dorm room to start unloading everything.
About ten minutes later Cassie got inside our dorm room and together we spent the night deciding where everything should go in the cabinets. We were pretty in sync with where everything should go and it didn't take us long to find everything a home. After we were done I decided to make us a simple dinner of grilled chicken and rice with some green beans. Simple in the later hour and some much needed protein for myself.
When Cassie complemented my cooking it made me blush as I tried to downplay the simple meal. It didn't work through and I had a hard time keeping my eyes off the blonde in front of me. As we finished up dinner I got a call from my mom letting me know that she got home in one piece and it put me at ease. While I was on the phone Cassie did the dish and by the time I was off she was done.
With a full stomach and the subtle ache in my body becoming more pronounced, I decided to call it a night. I wished Cassie a goodnight and retired to my room. After setting an alarm for tomorrow and changing into some pajamas I crawled into bed and was asleep within a few moments.